March 11, 2012 AT 11:56 am

Rutgers University Creating On-Campus Hackerspaces

Rutgers University is forming at least two labs for students who want to get together and collaborate on projects. The Rutgers Makerspace Association, which has about 60 student members, was formed by Rick Anderson, director of virtual worlds for the Rutgers Division of Continuing Studies.

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The Rutgers makerspaces will take up residence in a renovated office at 35 Berrue Circle on the Livingston campus and in the CAVE (Collaborative Academic Versatile Environment), a place in the Hill Center annex where computer science students study and socialize, Anderson said. He hopes to stock the labs with a 3D printer, a laser cutter, a milling machine and Arduino micro-controllers on circuit boards that can be programmed to control lights and motors.

It’s great to see Rutgers taking the initiative in doing something like this. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Also, props to Rick Anderson for helping make it happen.

Something else to note: Rutgers has one of the most prominent Library and Information Science programs in the country — it would be cool to see them incorporate the new ‘spaces into that program, in line with ideas that have been suggested by certain parties.

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University of Massachusetts (Amherst) engineering department also has a hacker space for its students. It is located in the basement of their engineering building.

When I visited there as a possible college for my son, we were shown an independent project using a wheelchair, sensors, and an Arduino. It was unrelated to school work. Just something students were hacking together.